West Africa: Mali seized $245 million worth of gold from Canadian mining company ‘Barrick Gold’ due to unpaid taxes. The company owes Mali $5.5 billion in unpaid taxes, stated the court.
Reportedly, Barrick Gold has suspended its operations in the country. But, the government is holding gold from Loulo-Gounkoto mine site at state-owned Banque Malienne de Solidarite (BMS).
Both the sources said that the miner pursues plans to suspend its operations in the country. However, the move escalates an ongoing dispute between Barrick and Malian authorities, who like fellow military-led governments in neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso who demands a bigger share of revenues from Western Miners.
As per the sources, the Malian officials have seized three metric tons of gold worth $245 million on Monday. Barrick confirmed the seizure on Tuesday and said that it had suspended operations in response.
An employee from Barrick spoke on its condition of anonymity in Mali. The consultant for mining companies in the country said that the gold was now being stored at BMS.
Judge for the case, Boubacar Moussa Diarra ordered the seizure of the gold and its storage in the Banque e Development du Mali (BDM) in the capital Bamako.
Both the sources said that BDM could not securely hold the amount of gold and therefore the gold was placed with BMS. The Malian authorities have not responded to any of the requests for comment on the seizure of the gold or Barrick’s suspension of operations.
At present Barrick Gold employs around 8,000 people in Mali and will furlough expatriate staff by the end of the week and plans to begin furloughing local staff from next week.
The employ from Barrick said that some of the expatriate employees will be relocated to other Barrick mines and others were told not to return to Mali from leave. While, a skeleton crew of key maintenance, security and emergency workers will stay on steadily.
Both the sources confirmed that the suspension is pressurising both the sides. Loulo-Gounkoto accounts for around 14% of Barrick’s 2025 as estimated gold output. While the union representatives have spoken with the mines ministry to voice their concern about job losses.
A mining union group also stated that both sides should consider the dire social consequences of suspending operations, which would jeopardise the prospects of more than 8,000 workers and their families too.
Notably, Gold is the top foreign currency of the Mali that accounted for more than 80% of total exports in year 2023.